New Territory emerges from the distant echoes of Mars, inspired by data-translated audio derived from NASA’s rover Opportunity (MER-B), which landed on the Red Planet on January 24, 2004.
This body of work navigates between what is known and what is only imagined—recasting the landscapes of home through the interplanetary curiosity of another planet.
My fascination began when I encountered a YouTube video titled “The first sounds of Mars are kind of freaky.” Initially captivated by what I believed to be authentic Martian audio, I later discovered the truth: Mars rover at the time were not equipped with microphones. Instead, the sound was created by NASA engineers using data from the rover’s accelerometer—transforming vibrations from Opportunity’s movement into audible frequencies. Though artificial, the sound evoked a sense of presence and authenticity. These spectral tones—while artificial—carried the weight of something eerily real. I found myself captivated by the illusion, shaped entirely by imagination and suggestion. I became intrigued by how easily fiction could evoke feelings of reality—how our associations with place can be shaped more by imagination than fact.
This revelation opened up new questions about perception, place, and longing. I turned my gaze inward—to my own hometown in Northern Ireland, a place I had never felt compelled to photograph. Could I see it differently? What if the familiar could be transformed? By overlaying the rover’s Martian path onto a map of Northern Ireland, I began to follow a new trajectory one that guided me through overlooked terrains, and quiet roads, spaces recharged with a strange, cosmic resonance. The process became a way of charting the familiar as if it were uncharted. An attempt to reframe the known and to bridge the distance between myself and the place I come from.
These photographs document more than just place. They trace the psychic distance between here and elsewhere, exploring the mythologies we construct around landscapes, the desire to escape, and the quiet wonder of finding the alien within the everyday.
Opportunity audio (about 60 minutes in length) covers Sols 1 to 2143 (Jan. 24, 2004 to Feb. 2, 2010).